My Genealogy Hound

PIUS WOLLENSACK.
When Union county was largely a frontier district but a land of opportunity, Pius Wollensack took up his abode within its borders and, utilizing the advantages which lay before all, he has become one of the prosperous farmers of this part of the state, his home being on section 20, Union township, where he owns and cultivates a good tract of land. He came to Iowa in 1856 and after a brief residence of about three years in Des Moines county; took up his abode in Union county on the 1st of March, 1859. He was then a young man of twenty-eight years, his birth having occurred in Baden, Germany, on the 11th of July, 1830. He was there reared to the age of twenty-four and acquired a good public-school education but his knowledge of English had all been self-acquired.

The favorable reports which he heard concerning America led him to desire to try his fortune in the new world, hoping that he might secure advancement and success more quickly than he could hope to in the father land. In the spring of 1854, therefore, he sailed for New York and made his way to Wisconsin, joining an uncle in Milwaukee. Soon afterward he went into the pine woods and for two and a half years was engaged in lumbering. He then came to Iowa, settling first at Burlington, where he worked in a rock quarry during the summer, while in the fall he went into the timber district and got out staves and hoops for a cooper, continuing at that place until February, 1859, when he came to Union county.

Having carefully saved his earnings during the former period, he purchased a tract of land of eighty acres, upon which he made a few improvements and built a log house. He broke four acres of the land but on account of illness was not able to make payments on the property and lost his first farm. Afterward, however, he homesteaded forty acres, which he improved and thus gained a start in life. The sale of his crops brought him capital sufficient to enable him to purchase other land adjoining the home place until he has one hundred and sixty acres in all. This is now well improved with good buildings and gives every evidence of the care and labor which he bestowed upon it during the forty years when he made it his home. When four decades had passed he rented that land and bought thirty acres near the town of Afton, where he now resides. He has built a good dwelling here and is comfortably situated in life, his small farm employing his time as much as he desired, while the old homestead returns to him a good income.

While living in Burlington, Mr. Wollensack was married on the 15th of November, 1857, to Miss Frederieka Bacher, a German lady. They have become the parents of nine children: William Henry, who is now connected with a wholesale house of Chicago; Louisa, the wife of Joseph Brockman, of the state of Washington; Katie, the wife of Fred Brockman, also of Washington; Rebecca, the wife of George Tender, of Adair county, Iowa; Joseph, who is living in Minnesota; Mary, the wife of Peter Schonley, of Union county; John, of Adair county; Dora, the wife of Edward Fleming; and Noah, a young man at home.

The parents were reared in the Catholic faith and are communicants of the church at Afton. Politically Mr. Wollensack is independent, voting for the candidate whom he regards as best qualified for office. His last presidential ballot was cast for Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. Wollensack has always felt that his choice of America as a place of residence was a wise one. Although he came to the United States empty-handed, he saw the opportunities held out here and has used them in the attainment of success. While there have been no exciting chapters in his life history, in the workaday world he has proved himself a valued factor and his record shows what may be accomplished when one’s energy is supplemented by strong determination.